Girls Cruise Day 4 - Key West

When Keri and I started looking at cruises for our annual girls trip, one thing pushed us in the direction of the Carnival Ecstasy, a day in Key West. We spent a week in Key West for our 30th Birthday and have plenty of amazing memories there. Although we live in FL, going on a trip to Key West is an 8 hour drive each way. Ending our cruise in our favorite city was like icing on the cake.

We had a lengthy wait for customs to clear us so we sat with a beautiful view, drinking our daily juice - extra large mimosa.

We were finally on our way with one goal in mind - Key Lime Martini. When we were in Key West a few years back, we both fell in love with this martini. Yet we could not remember where we got it from. After internet investigation, we learned that the White Tarpon has the "famous Key Lime Martini". Our bartender Emily was amazing, and she absolutely makes the worlds best Key Lime Martini. It was a very potent drink that was too easy to go down. Ironically, we found out that the White Tarpon is owned by the same restaurant where we first fell in love with the Key Lime Martini

White Tarpon has $.50 oysters! The self proclaimed oyster lover that I am ordered 2 dozen with excitement. I forgot to get them lightly steamed. Surprise to me - they came out raw. I have never had raw oysters so now was a good time to try them. I was very impressed and ate most of them. Between the amazing Key Lime Martini's and $.50 oysters, White Tarpon is the way to go.

After our oysters and key lime martini's, we felt the need to visit the house we rented for our 30th Birthday. It looked exactly how we remembered it nearly 4 years later, pink door and all.

We also had to get an updated photo of Love Lane. I'm trying to figure out from this photo if one of us is double fisting or being smart by carrying water and a vodka drink.....

Love Lane 1/2013

Just to brag about Keri for a quick second - check out how much weight she has lost in the past 3 years. This is one of the reason we got new photos to replace the ones from 2009!

Love Lane 6/2009

We took a self guided street tour and visited Truman's Annex and other areas of Key West. After walking a bit, we worked up an appetite and found Blue Heaven. When we first started planning this trip, Keri mentioned she wanted to go here. This is a restaurant we have heard quite a lot about from friends with rave reviews.

The Roosters guided us in. I live in Ybor City where we have our fair share of street roosters but it is no where near what you find in Key West. How cute is this place!

For some reason, I did not get a photo of Keri's entree but I got the Lobster Melt. OMG. It was perfect, with homemade pickle slices to compliment the sweetness of the lobster. I cannot remember a time where I finished a sandwich so quickly.

Only in Key West:

OK - onto our next stop along with crazy wind and rain. See the thing about being on a ship for 4 days, you have no idea what is going on in the real world. Apparently Winter Storm Lago was on it's way to do some destruction up north, causing us to have really crummy weather. When did they start naming winter storms? I saw Willy T's, one of my favorite bars in St. Thomas so naturally we decided to take cover with another drink. I love seeing all the dollars on the wall and ceiling of Willy T's. This is such a fun dive bar.

We visited a few art gallery's to kill some time. We had dessert reservations at Better Than Sex at 6pm. This is a dessert bar that dips your wine glasses in chocolate. Yes ladies, you heard me right, chocolate dipped wine glasses. After fighting strong wind, rain and flying roosters, we found ourselves at our final destination.

We were led to our table by a woman carrying a flashlight. This place was amazing - you must visit it if you are in Key West. I was a little overwhelmed so our server suggested we try the Carly's Button,
a Dark Chocolate rimmed wine glass with sparkling Shiraz. You've never tried anything until you have drank from a chocolate rimmed wine glass.

For our dessert, we got the chocolate grilled cheeze which was amazing. I love a savory sweet combo and this was perfect combo. It came with a raspberry dipping sauce.

It was nearing 7:30 which meant we had to hurry back to the ship. We were one of the last (if not the very last) trolley back to the boat. We did not have enough time in our favorite city and are talking about taking another summer trip there this year. One day at Key West is nice but not when you have 100 things you want to do. We didn't get to go by Irish Kevin's which made me very sad. Again, there is not enough time in the day when you are rushed for time. This is the downfall for being at a port where you are familiar with the destination. We were informed that our cruise was Carnivals last time docking in Key West.

On a side note, we did not eat dinner on the ship this night. As you can see from above, we had a very big day drinking and eating. I did find myself at the pizza bar at 1am though - oops. I danced off all this food though trust me. The more nights on the boat, the better dancer I think I am.